One Day Cup Group B, Taunton, August 10th 2021, Leicestershire 327-6, 44.4 overs (Hill 107, Kimber 85) beat Somerset 326—7 (Bartlett 108, Thomas 75) by 4 wickets
Work meetings prevented me from listening or watching any of the first hour and three-quarters today but I’d guessed from the numerous notifications on my phone that wickets were falling rapidly at Taunton. The initial check on the score revealed 120-5 with the trio responsible for the bulk of Somerset’s runs this season, namely Goldsworthy, Davies and Hildreth all dismissed.
Hope springs eternal though and when I tuned into the BBC commentary the first thing I heard was a George Bartlett six followed by the Leicestershire commentator saying that it looked like George Bartlett had decided to take the more aggressive approach.
I feel a bit of a fraud because the 25-odd overs I listened to were clearly a complete contrast to what had gone before. But my was it an enjoyable listen as George Bartlett rediscovered his form with a bang and George Thomas, on debut, took their side to a very competitive if not match-winning total. Having cursed Bartlett with picking him on Charlie Taylor’s show as Somerset’s leading red ball run-scorer I have been praying all summer he would turn the corner. Let’s hope he has.
This wasn’t a particularly difficult surface to bat on, and Somerset will come up against much better bowling attacks before the season ends, but that should not detract from the record-breaking sixth wicket partnership. Statistics can often give a good indication of an innings but that is only partly true in this case as the numbers don’t give any indication of the jeopardy the innings was in when Thomas joined Bartlett.
The Somerset Academy has, yet again, produced a young player who has come into the first team and batted as if it was his hundredth game not his first. I don’t know what the magic formula is but it seems capable of producing individuals with both talent and temperament as Thomas demonstrated.
Unfortunately the efforts of Bartlett and Thomas proved not to be enough. The ease with which they batted, while taking nothing away from them, showed the batting-friendly conditions. Leicestershire, having avoided the loss of early wickets were always going to be ahead of the game and so it proved.
The issue for Somerset in the second half of this competition has been one of the bowling not being able to restrict opponents batting first or defend totals when bowling second. This has been clearly evident in the last two games when both Northants and Leicestershire have been able to field almost first-choice teams.
Leicestershire’s captain Lewis Hill has made runs a plenty this season and after Somerset made two quick breakthroughs to reduce their opponents to 51-2 in the tenth over the visiting skipper was able to accumulate at will.
But by no means should the inexperienced bowlers shoulder all the blame. With Ben Green and Jack Brooks missing Somerset needed the skipper and Marchant de Lange to bowl much better than they did. In this case the numbers (de Lange 8-0-80-0)) don’t lie. de Lange’s propensity to contribute a fair sprinkling of no-balls a particular cause for concern no more so than in the 39th over when two consecutive no-balls both resulted in straight sixes off the free-hits in an over that cost 26. That simply is not acceptable.
Having topped the group a week ago Somerset now find themselves fifth in the group with a net run rate that does them no favours. A win on Thursday at Edgbaston will not be enough if Surrey and Yorkshire both win. And while I don’t expect Somerset to win every game they play the last three performances have been seriously below par, even for such an inexperienced side.
